I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Swallowed
Naruto stepped out of the trees and down to the edge of the water. They had been waiting for the Sealing Team to get ready and now he and Sora had been tasked with trying to protect them while the others all fought the enemy. They hadn't seen them yet but Naruto knew it wouldn't be long. He stepped out on the water and turned around in time to see the sealing team step out made up of Shizune, Hinata, Sakura, and Ino. Sora was standing behind them keeping a look out and following at a distance but was too close to be able to react in time to protect them.
Naruto looked around and sent out clones to place seals around the water. The seals would be mobile making it difficult to make pinpoint strikes using them but it would be better than nothing. Once the clones were done, they disappeared and Naruto looked around. He could smell the others but he couldn't tell where the enemies were.
"You guys holding up?" Naruto asked the Sealing Team.
"Fine," Ino said. "Let's just get this over with."
Just then, an explosion went off and Fu clones shot out of the forest on the far side of the lake. Naruto sent clones outward forming a perimeter around the Sealing Team along with himself and Sora.
"Be ready Sora!" Naruto shouted.
Just then, water about a hundred feet below them solidified into blue crystal forming a massive dragon easily twenty feet thick and three hundred feet long. It exploded out of the water and spun around opening its mouth and launching a cloud of crystal shuriken at the Sealing Team. All of the Naruto clones appeared in front holding their hands out.
"Beast Wave Gale Palm!" they all shouted and the jutsus combined into one massive one blasting all of the shuriken back at the dragon.
They all hit and cracks and chips formed as pieces fell away as the shuriken hit. Then the Naruto's all threw three shuriken each.
"Thank you Konohamaru," Naruto said. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Their three shuriken turned into hundreds of thousands and hit the dragon. Finally it fell apart in a cloud of crystal dust but reformed seconds later and Guren landed on its head.
"You can't beat me," Guren said. "I'm better than you."
"Really?" Naruto asked. "If you're so sure, close your eyes for one second."
Guren smirked and began forming hand seals.
"Crystal Style, Jade Crystal Prison!" Guren said and crystal began to grow on Hinata. Naruto teleported to her and canceled the jutsu then looked back to see Guren preparing another jutsu.
"I don't think so," Naruto said teleporting to a seal just behind Guren. He had placed it on the dragon when he had sent the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu at it.
The moment he was there he twisted her head around backward and ripped it off. It turned to crystal and instantly encased his hands. The dragon roared and crystal began to encase his feet too.
Naruto shouted in surprise and tried to jump but his legs had already been encased up to the knees. A Naruto clone landed beside him and freed his hands. Naruto freed his own feet then leapt off blasting the dragon with a Pressure Damage and destroying it. It reformed again and Naruto landed on the water beside Hinata and looked around.
"You okay?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Hinata said.
"I can't hold this much longer," Ino said. "How much further?"
"A ways," Naruto said. "Through a Crystal Dragon that won't die."
"Can you teleport it away?" Shizune asked.
"Not without being killed and it would take all of my clones plus myself," Naruto said then sighed. "I'll do it."
"No!" Hinata said.
"It's alright," Naruto said. "I'm ready."
"Can't you just make more clones?" Shizune asked. "It'll take us a while to actually seal the Three-tails anyway."
"Unfortunately, my clones aren't able to teleport effectively enough without me," Naruto said. "Maybe there's another way, though. Is all of your chakra connected?"
"Yes," Shizune said. "Why?"
"Sora, contact," Naruto said.
Sora placed his hand on Ino's shoulder and Naruto teleported them all to a seal over the Three-tails using their chakra to link to the others. They began to seal it and the dragon roared heading toward them.
"My turn," Naruto said making hand seals. "Crystal Style, Burst Crystal Falling Dragon!"
He placed his palms on the ground and a dragon about three fourths the size of Guren's formed below them and shot up out of the water launching itself and Guren's dragon skyward before both crashed back down shattering then reforming. Naruto was breathing heavily but his dragon was holding. Guren's dragon was bigger and stronger but Naruto's was more streamline and wasn't hampered by excessive body mass.
"My dragon can handle the other one," Naruto said. "Try to hurry."
"They won't be able to," Guren said landing and slamming her hands into the surface of the water.
The water shot toward them and became a wall of razor sharp crystal spikes. Naruto formed hand seals and then fired a Pressure Damage and the wall disintegrated. Guren grinned and formed a crystal fuma shuriken and threw it then used Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu to send hundreds of them at him. He created a fuma shuriken of his own and copied her. Their shuriken hit and shattered then all of the shards, Naruto's included, formed new shuriken and shot at the Sealing Team.
"Work faster you guys," Naruto said slamming his hands into the ground and raising a crystal wall between the shuriken and them.
The shuriken shattered against the wall cracking it then reforming a distance away and repeating the process. Naruto felt his strength slipping. Then, Guren's Dragon shattered from a strike to the side of his head by Naruto's. Naruto's dragon turned on Guren firing a cloud of crystal shuriken then Naruto had a clone use a Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu to turn the small cloud into one the size of an ash cloud fresh from an eruption. Guren dove under the water and the crystal shuriken collapsed. The shuriken Naruto's dragon had fired shattered on the water where Guren had been. She resurfaced a moment later just as electricity shot up the seal and all four members of the Sealing Team winced.
"He's here!" Shizune said. "He's barely small enough for the seal!"
"Work fast!" Naruto said as Guren pushed himself up onto the surface of the water and the others all ran out onto the water with the other enemies close behind.
"Finally," Guren said. "Kigiri! Cover the lake!"
The shinobi with the gas mask exhaled and a very thick cloud of gas covered the entire lake. It smelled foul and Naruto had to drop his senses to human to keep from choking. His visibility was barely three meters even with his heightened sight and he could tell he was going to have trouble protecting the others in the smoke.
"Kiho!" Kigiri shouted from somewhere in the smoke. "Blast her!"
"Explosive Sphere!" Kiho shouted and Naruto managed to pinpoint him.
His clones did as well and one of them managed to use his body to block the blast and save Shizune. Another clone met Kakashi on his way to Kiho and threw him. Kakashi readied a Chidori and used it to bisect Kiho. Kiho splashed down and Kakashi turned toward Kigiri and met another clone on the way.
While Kakashi and the clones went after Kiho and Kigiri, Kiba, Akamaru, and Tenten all went after Rinji. He was fast and was practically tearing them apart. Kiba and Akamaru were barely able to fight in the smoke but Akamaru had spread pee around and they were using that fairly well to fight him. Tenten, on the other hand, was able to see Rinji for the most part and was launching weapons at him as fast as she could.
Suddenly, Nurari shot past dragging two Naruto clones while bugs fell off of him stuck in some form of goo. Tenten managed to hit him with a ball and chain and he crashed down into the water. When he was standing on the surface again, he looked around and saw the Sealing Team a short distance away. He stood to run there but was suddenly covered in insects. They began to drain his chakra and infect him with poison.
Gozu had the honor of fighting Utakata, Fu, Sora, B, Lee, and several Naruto clones all at once. Sora, Utakata, Fu, and B all had chakra cloaks. They were moving in blurs and Gozu was holding his own against them easily. Utakata was using physical attacks and acid and exploding bubbles to attack, B and Lee was using physical attacks, Sora was blasting at Gozu with his best jutsus, and Fu was sending clones at him using every jutsu she knew. Gozu ducked under a Beast Wave Palm from Sora which hit B sending him flying into Utakata and a cloud of bubbles. A Fu clone tried to attack him and Gozu caught her by the throat then spun smashing her into another clone. Then he grabbed Sora by the face and the real Fu by the throat and threw them both at the Sealing Team. They crashed into the water on either side of Ino breaking her focus and destroying the seal.
Instantly, the Three-tails sent a blast of chakra upward throwing the Sealing Team, along with Fu and Sora, away from it. Then it launched a sphere of water at the nearest battle. Kakashi was a part of it and Naruto managed to teleport him away seconds before Kigiri and the still alive Kiho were both vaporized by the blast. It surfaced and Naruto stood. He looked around and froze. Hinata and the rest of the Sealing Team were all fine and beginning to help the Jinchuriki and Kiba, and Tenten. He froze because there was a small boat near the Three-tails and Yukimaru was sitting in it.
"Yukimaru!" Guren shouted seeing the same thing.
Part of Naruto noticed that the smoke was gone. He saw Guren sprinting forward and launching a cloud of shuriken at the Three-tails. The attack had no effect and Naruto couldn't help but grin. His dragon was still in almost one piece so he used it to attack and placed a teleportation seal on the Three-tails. Then he sent his dragon at the Three-tails.
Naruto ran along the water as his dragon smashed under the Three-tails' foot. It launched another blast at Naruto and B grabbed him pulling him out of the way.
"We got this," B said as he and the rest of the Jinchuriki attacked the Three-tails with Guren.
She also attacked them but they ignored her and she was unable to do much of anything. Finally Naruto clones restrained her then Naruto joined the Jinchuriki. It was going very well. They were easily able to avoid the Three-tails attacks and fight back. Then, the Three-tails smashed the Jinchuriki all away in one hit. Naruto's temper instantly shot through the roof and eight tails appeared instantly. The explosion of chakra sent all of the water in the lake into the sky then crashing back down. Naruto had become a miniature Kurama and instantly blasted the Three-tails with a Tailed Beast Ball sending it flying. It crashed down on top of Rinji killing him and then, Naruto was human again. He fell under the water and a moment later Hinata pulled him out and he looked around.
"How am I human?" Naruto asked.
"Don't know," Hinata said. "Not complaining."
"Me neither," Naruto said. "How are the others?"
"Fu managed to shield them from the majority with clones but she's not doing well," Hinata said. "She's almost out of chakra and still trying to fight. Sakura is restraining her."
Naruto nodded and suddenly something blocked out the sun. Naruto looked up to see Guren falling from above them with a massive crystal spear aimed at them but behind her was the thing blocking the sun. The Three-tails had leapt into the air and was falling toward them. Guren noticed and spun landing just behind them less than a second before the Three-tails crashed down sending water flying skyward. A moment later, there was no one standing there.
Naruto woke up some time later inside of the Three-tails. Hinata was by his side and Guren was a few hundred feet away. The Three-tails insides were the same kind of coral or stone its outsides seemed to be.
"Why did you have to involve yourself?" Guren asked. "Everything was fine until you showed up."
"Sorry to disappoint," Naruto said.
"Now Yukimaru is going to die," Guren said sitting up and glaring at him. "You can't seal a Tailed-beast inside someone from outside."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"Yukimaru was supposed to be the Jinchuriki of the Three-tailed Beast," Guren said. "He would have lived, been trained, and would have been taken under Orochimaru's wing. Now, Kabuto is going to kill him. Without me, Yukimaru refuses to help and is useless. Kabuto will kill the Three-tails and Yukimaru. It's your fault."
"You sound like you actually care about Yukimaru," Naruto said. "But people like you don't care about others."
"Fuck you," Guren said. "You don't know me. Yukimaru is only in danger because of me. If it wasn't for me, he would have been able to live happily with his family."
"I thought he didn't have one," Naruto said.
"He doesn't," Guren said. "One a mission for Orochimaru, I killed his mother. I didn't necessarily have to but I did it anyway. I owe Yukimaru for ruining his life. Thanks to you, I just failed him and now his life is over."
"Not if we escape," Naruto said. "If we find a way out, we can save him."
"I thought you didn't trust me," Guren said.
"Naruto can literally smell emotions and memories," Hinata said. "While you were running your mouth, he screened you and understands that you were telling the truth."
"I'll make you a deal," Naruto said. "We get out of here alive, and I'll help you kill Kabuto."
"Agreed," Guren said.
Naruto nodded and stood before sending out a large army of clones to search for an exit.
"Now what?" Guren asked.
"We wait," Naruto said. "And if all else fails, we can always give him indigestion."
"That sounds fun," Guren said. "Your name's Hinata, right?"
"Yes," Hinata said.
"I'm sorry I tried to kill you and froze you in crystal," Guren said.
"It's okay," Hinata said. "You really only need to apologize to Naruto. You are partially responsible for him having only one more tail before he dies."
"You'll die when the last tail grows in?" Guren asked.
"Yes," Naruto said. "And then it is in control."
"It?" Guren asked.
"The abomination that one of the Akatsuki helped create the day of my birth," Naruto said. "The miniature Kurama that blasted the Three-tails."
"Oh," Guren said.
Naruto suddenly stiffened and sniffed then groaned holding a hand to his head.
"Are you okay?" Hinata asked.
"Half my clones just blew up," Naruto said. "We've got a lot of company."
Just then, miniature Three-tailed beasts ranging from the size of a tarantula to the size of Akamaru. All were impossibly strong for their size but the smaller ones were weaker.
"Run," Naruto said. "Now!"
Hinata ran and he and Guren followed but not before trapping a good portion of the mini Tailed-beasts in crystal. Finally Naruto picked both of the others up and teleported to one of his other clones that had found an area temporarily free of minis. He set them both down and looked around.
To their left, was a tiny pond size pool of water about a hundred feet deep and fifty or so wide. To the right, there was a ledge leading down to a swarm of minis. There was a fifteen foot wide bit of solid insides for them to stand on and there was a trickle of water coming in from a hole over the pool.
"Hinata," Naruto said. "I need to talk to Matatabi for a second."
Hinata nodded and her eyes turned green and yellow.
"You've really gotten yourself into a problem now haven't you?" Matatabi asked.
"No doubt," Naruto said. "How's Hinata holding up?"
"She's shaken about almost dying, understandably, but is more worried about your tail count," Matatabi said. "You've put it off long enough. Once we get back, you, me, Gyuki and B, and Kurama are going to fix that problem of yours. For now, avoid the mini Isobus and look for...that."
She pointed at the water stream coming from the small hole.
"It's a path out," Matatabi said. "If you can make it bigger, you can follow it to the real world again. Unfortunately, they won't let you go very easily."
"We'll live," Naruto said having a clone help him form a Rasenshuriken. "Indigestion time freak."
He threw it then created hundreds of clones who stood on the water and solid insides ready to fight. The Rasenshuriken exploded blowing the tiny hole into a tunnel just barely big enough to crawl through and flooded with water surging out.
The walls suddenly shook and they heard a high-pitched squeal from all around them as the Three-tails screamed then all of the minis charged at Naruto and the others.
"Let's go!" Naruto said leaping into the tunnel and worming his way forward effectively blocking the the water from getting through.
Hinata followed then Guren who sealed the tunnel behind them. Naruto's lungs felt like they were on fire instantly but he kept pushing forward and the others did the same. The minis quickly obliterated the clones but lost several of themselves in the process. They turned on the crystal and smashed it launching several hundred Three-tail Water Balls after them. Naruto finally shot out of a sphere of energy and Hinata and Guren followed seconds before one massive Water Ball shout out. A moment later the sphere shattered and the Three-tails looked up at them glaring.
Naruto summoned Gamatatsu and they fired a Toad Water Pistol at the Three-tails and it countered with a Water Ball. The two blasts canceled and Naruto grabbed Hinata and Guren creating a crystal dragon to carry them out of the water. It got them to the shore and they turned to run. After they were a short distance away, they curved around coming to a cliff overlooking the lake and the scene of the tailed beasts, minus Fu, fighting the Three-tails.
"Kabuto's exactly three miles away and closing fast," Naruto said. "Yukimaru's with him. They should be here soon."
Guren nodded then readied the jutsu she had created for the simple purpose of killing Kabuto. She had dreamt of it for years and now she was finally going to get her chance.
THE END
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A.N. Please go to my profile and check the very bottom. I would like input on the last paragraph. I need to decide on who to use in the story it is about but can't. Please and thank you.
